Refrigerator



March l, 1949. G, E Cum-|55, JR l 2,463,250

REFRIGERATOR A Filed Nov. 16, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet l March 1, .1949. G, E, CUR-|155, JR 2,463,250

REFRIGERATOR Filed Nov. 16, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 1, 1949. G. E. CURTISS, JR

REFRIGXIJRATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 Filed Nov. 16, 1943 Patented Mar. 1,' 1949 REFRIGERATOR George E. Curtiss, Jr., Penn Wynne, Pa., assignor to Philco Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 16, 1943, Serial No. 510,547

7 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to refrigerators,

' and more particularly to an improved door structure and operating means therefor. It has heretofore been proposed to use a slidable door instead of the swinging door commonly mounted on a refrigerator cabinet for closing and opening the food storage compartment thereof. However, the use of a slidable door for the purpose stated has met with numerous problems because of the difficulties experienced in effecting a proper seal between the door and adjoining portions of the cabinet walls while allowing for free sliding movement of the door.

The principal object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide a, refrigerator cabinet having a slidable door capable, when in closed position, of effectively sealing the refrigerated area with which it is associated and adapted, when moved to and from openedor closed position, to slide freely in a guided path along the associated walls of the cabinet structure.

It is also an important object of the invention to provide a refrigerator cabinet with a door mounted for sliding movement thereon and having displaceable sealing means and movable handle means, the sealing means being located for snug engagement with adjoining portions of the refrigerator cabinet structure and operatively connected with the handle means whereby actuation of the latter in a general direction to open the door displaces the sealing means to disengage the same from said portions of the cabinet strucscription based upon the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator cabinet provided with a slidable door constructed in accordance with this invention and illustrating said door in fully closed position;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 illustratlng the slidable door in fully opened position;

ture, thereby freeing the door for unimpeded i sliding movement.

Another important object o'f the invention resides in the provision of a slidable door for a refrigerator cabinet having a sealing gasket displaceably mounted thereon for forceful application against adjoining wall portions of the cabinet structure to eiect an air tight seal therebetween when and only when the door is in its fully closed position.

Still another important object of the invention resides in the provision of a slidable door for a. refrigerator cabinet having a displaceable sealing gasket mounted thereon for movement into and out of contact with adjoining wall portions of the cabinet structure, and adapted to be moved out of contact with the cabinet wall portions when it is intended to slide the door to its open position but prior to the actual sliding of the door to said opening position.

The invention is further characterized by the provision of a slidable refrigerator door of the character mentioned adapted normally to be urged to closing position but capable of being maintained in various partially opened positions if desired.

Other important objects and characteristic features of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in'the art from the following de- Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section on a reduced scale taken through the height of the refrigerator cabinet;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken longitudinally through a portion of the door and lower section of the cabinet and looking in the general direction indicated by the arrows 4 4, Figure 3:

Figure 5 is an enlarged elevational crosssectional detail of the counter-balancing'device associated with the door and taken substantially along line 5 5, Figure 3;

Figure' is an enlarged cross-sectional detail looking in the general direction indicated by arrows 6 6, Figure 1;

Figure 7 is a reduced sectional elevational view looking in the general direction of arrow 1 1, Figure 6 and illustrating one embodiment of the means cooperating with the door to maintain the same at points intermediate its fully closed and fully opened positions;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the door handle assembly;

Figure 9 is -a ,transverse vertical section through the refrigerator door viewed from the line 9 9, Figure 6; and

Figure 10 is a view similar to Figure 9 but taken substantially at right angles thereto as indicated by arrows y III-I0, Figure 9.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a'refrigerator cabinet I which may have the usual rectangular config- 40 uration and the usual construction including relatively spaced inner and outer liners 2 and 3, respectively, said liners being joined by means of a suitable breaker strip 4 conveniently covered with a finishing strip 5 (Figure 6).

The cabinet I may be, and preferably is, provided with a lower section 6 and an upper section 1. The lower section 6 preferably constitutes the housing portion for the motor-compressor unit (not shown) of an" ordinary primary refrigerating system, whereas the upper section I preferably constitutes the refrigerated portion of the cabinet and, for that purpose, is insulated as indicated at 8 according to the usual practice. 'I'he upper section 1, Amoreover, may be divided by means of an insulated wall 9 into two superposed compartments I0 and 1I, respectively. The uppermost compartment Il preferably forms a low temperature freezing chamber in which the primary evaporator I2 of usual well-known type may be mounted, while the remaining compa-rtment il preferably forms a food storage chamclosed-secondary system I3, associated with the inner liner' 2 "defining, said chamber.v Shelves I4 are conveniently` mounted at fixed spaced points within the compartment II for the storage of food therein.

' The uppermost compartment Illopens atI the front and is adapted to be closed by means of a door I5 preferably hinged at the top as indicated at I5 and provided with a handle I'I at the lower edge portion so that said door I5 may be swung upwardly to give clear access to the associated compartment I0. In closed position, the door I5 preferably fits between those portions of the cabinet side walls which lie adjacent to sides of said door, and nests within a recess I8 formed ina forwardly extended portion I9 of the insulated dividing wall 9 in the manner more clearly shown in Figure 4. Sealing gasket means 20 is interposed between contacting surfaces of said door I5 and walls dening the open front of the compartment I0, thus effectively sealing the latter.

In accordance with the present invention, the open front of the food storage compartment II is adapted to be' closed by means of a vertically slidable door 2I which preferably is of substantially rectangular configuration and has a width and thickness to t vfreely within the confines of an area outlined by the forwardly projecting edge portions of the side walls of the cabinet l, by the underside of the forwardly extended portion of the dividing wall 9 and by the forward face of the oor of the compartment il, as more fully shown in Figures 1, 2 and 6. As more clearly appears in Figure 3 of the drawings, the door 2i is of a height in excess to the height of its associated compartment Il'so that said door, in its closed position, extends from the underside of the forwardlyextended portion I9 of the dividing wall 9 to a point substantially level with the bottom surface of the floor of compartment II. In practice and as illustrated in Figure 6, the door 2| includes relatively spaced inner and outer panels 22 and 23, respectively, between which is packed insulating material 24. l

The door 2 I is adapted to slide vertically to and from closing and opening positions and for that purpose, said door is preferably provided with rollers 25 disposed to ride in guide track members 28 suitably arranged in the corresponding forwardly projecting portions of the cabinet walls.

Moreover, the door 2i is normally urged towards and maintained in its closed position by actuation -of a counterbalancing mechanism 21 which preferably comprises pairs of articulated levers 23 and 29 and force reacting means 30 associated therewith to counteract the weight of the door and tend to lift the same.

As shown in the drawings and particularly Figures 3-and 4 thereof, the free end of one lever 28 of each pair is pivotally connected as atv3l to the lower edge portion of the door 2| whereas the free end of the other lever 29 of each pair is pivotally connected as at 32 to the floor of the cabinet lower section 6. As shown in Figure 5, the interconnected ends of said levers may be formed to provide bearing portions 33 for a spindle member force is applied to the door 2l in a; Adirection to urge the same to its closing positionjand that this drawings, the force stored in the spring 90 is static but this force is released the instant the door is started in its upward movement. In order that the door 2| may readily be lowered towards its opening position and be given its initial upward movement towards its closing position, there is provided a handle 38 located centrallyof 'the door at the upper marginal edge portion'thereoLand mounted thereon in a special mannento-bmdescribed presently. y

It will be understood that when the door'2l vis in closed position, an adequate air tight seal must be effected between said door and the surrounding adjoining surfaces ofthe cabinet structure if the associated refrigerated compartment Il is to be kept at its highest possible degreefoi' emciency, but that when it is desired to move the door towards open position, said seal must be such that its frictional pressure against the door be fully relieved if the latter is to slide freely and unobstructedly.

For this purpose, there is mounted on each side of the door and suitably anchored on the opposed side edges of the inner and outer panels 22 and 23 thereof, resilient gasket strips such as shown at 39 in Figures 6 and 10. Each gasket strip I9 has a generally W-shaped cross-sectional configuration, the intermediate resilient portion 39a of which is adapted to effect the seal and is fixedly associated with a substantially T-shaped bar 40 extending, as shown in Figure 10, throughout the length of said gasket strip. By reason of this 40 construction, it will be understood that movement 34 with which the force reacting means 30 is asof the levers as indicated at 37. It is to be noted that in practice the windingy of the spiral spring 30 is such that a continuous of the bars 40 `in a plane substantially at right angles to those surfaces of the forwardly projecting edge portions of the cabinet side walls which lie adjacent the gasket strip carrying edges of the door, will bring said seal eiecting portion 39a of the respective gasket strip 39 into and out of contact with the corresponding surface of the mentioned cabinet wall portions in the manner illustrated in full and dotted lines in Figure 10.

According to the present invention, this movement of the bars 40 is controlled by the actuation oi a toggle mechanisml 4I which preferably is constructed as shown in Figures 6, 8, 9 andy 10, wherein the toggle mechanism 4I includes pairs of articulated arms 42 and 43, the arms 42 being pivotally attached to the opposed end portions of the bars 40 and the arms 43 being pivotally attached to the upper and lower brackets 44 and $5 respectively lmounted within the door 2| at xed points` at the top and bottom. portions thereof. The pairs of articulated arms 42 and 43 on each side of the door. are interconnected by imeans of links such as that shown at,`- in Figures 9 and 10, so that the movement of `one pair of arms is. transmitted to the corresponding pair -of arms. Figuresl 9 and 10, the interconnected pairs of articulated arms 42 and 43 normally are urged and maintained into extended relationship by action of springs, such as 41, which abut a rigid As clearly illustrated in said' I In accordance with this invention, the breakmeoffhetoggletocauseretraction ofthearmsandandaccordinglyeifectthe withdrawal of the bars il as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 10. is accomplished through the initial manipulation of the handle Il in its door opening direction. For this purpose, the handle Il is formed with extensions posing through elongated slots El' in the door outer panel 23 and nxed to the intermediate portion of a torqfue rod il having its opposite end portions i2 extended and shaped to engage a pin il prolecting from the point of interconnection between the articulated arms l2 and of the toggle mechanism Il. The torque rod 5l is rotatably supported in bearings 5l formed with the upper brackets It and also in bearings [la on a support member Siwhich is provided with ted slots 56 registering with'the slots l@ in the door outer panel for the handle extensions 4Q. The support member Il may be of any suitable construction.

From the foregoing description, it be understood that when the door 2l is in its fully closed position, the sealing portions 39o of the gasket strips 3S are forced, by action of the springs il on the toggle mechanism il, against the adiacent surfaces of the cabinet sidewall portions thereby establishing an air tight seal therebetween. However, when it is desired to open the door 2l, initial manipulation of the handle IU in downward direction as indicated 3, t t sealedbymeansofglsketatripall and! ,mi gasket ship Gi beingcarriedpreienblyby the undersideofthedividingwalllsotbatthe'top edge of the door snugly presses against said strip, whereas the other gasket strip l! is carried by a ledge i8 at the bottom edge of thefdoorto press against the bottom oi the storage compertinent door.

In accordance with the invention, means may he provided to hold the. door at various shelf levels thereby mking it unnecessary to open the doortoitafullextentwhen access/tothe uppermost shelves only is dired. Por this purpose. depressable stop elements. such as shown at MinFigure'l'. maybemountedon thetrack members 2G at fixed points in relation to the shelves M and to the rollers on the upper side portions of the door, so that said elements will engage the mentioned rollers when the door is opened to the desired shelf level andv maintain' the door at said level against the action of the colmterbalancing mechanism 2l. It is to be noted that the depressable stop elements M are such that while they will the door aty the desired shelf level if the door is lowered to .a point where the rollers 25 pass said elements and then is slowly lifted until the rollers vgently contact the elements, said elements Il will be depressed by thel rollers 25 when the door fis moved unrestricted under full force of the counterbalancing mechanism 2l so that said elements do notVY interfere with the normal operation of by arrow A in Figure 8 rotates the torque rod 5l in the direction of arrow B thus raising the extended end portions 52 thereof and accordingly exerting an. upward force on the pin 53 as represented by arrow C which causes the toggle il to assume the position shown in dotted line in Figure lll thereby withdrawing the bars IG' and retracting the-sealing portions 33a: of the gasket strips 39 away from the corresponding wall portions so that the door becomes free to slide in its guided path of movement.

In order that the gasket strips 39 may be maintained in retracted against the normal action of the springs l when the door 2l is in fully opened or in opened positions, there are provided locking devices such as that shown atil, each preferably consisting of a `spring pressed dog 58 pivotally carried by the lower bracket l5 oi the toggle mechanism 4l and disposed for engagement within a notch 5!! out in one of the associated articulated toggle arms. The spring pressed dogs 58 are normally urged into position for engagement with the associated arms l2 of the toggle mechanism, but are held out of said position when the door is in closed position by means of a strike plate it arranged on the cabinet structure to cause movement of the dogs in opposition to their normal spring pressed action for out of engagement the toggle mechanism as the door 2l reaches its fully closed position. Because of this arrangement, it will be appreciated that the door 2i, when in open position, is always tree to slide either up or down and, upon reaching its fully closed position, the toggle mechanism is released whereupon the gasket strips I@ are forced against the adjoiningv surfaces of the cabinet sides thus sealing the opening of the food compartment Il and frictionally holding the door against sliding movement.

Ill

til,

the'door `units movement towards fully closed position by action V*of said counterbalancing mechanism. It is also to be noted that when the door is held at shelf level by the elements il, a slight uplifting urge on thehandle 3l is all that is necessary to causerthe rollers 25 to depress said elenients and thus free the door for its movement towards closing position. l

It is known that heretofore it has been sugv gested to provide gasket means displaceably mounted on portions of a refrigerator cabinet and engageable with a slidable' refrigeratornoor having means adapted to force the gasket means away from the door whenv `actually moving wards opened position and to release the gasket means for its engagement with the doorA as the latter is moving towards closed position. (Such an arrangement, however, necessitates movement of the door itself before displacement of the gasket means occurs. so that. the gasket means in fact resist free movement of the door towards opened position and free final movement oi the door to closed position. Therefore, it is believed that the present invention ris the first to provide an arrangement operable to cause the sealing gasket to be moved completely .free ot' the door prior to its openinglmovement and particularly an arrangement where movement of the sealing gasket to free the door is accomplished by initial actuation of a handle operable to open the door.

Whereas speciilc embodiments' of the ,various mechanisms have been shown and described herein, it is to be understood thatv such embodiments are capable of modication within the scope oi the claims without departing from the invention.

I claim: 1. In a refrigerator. a cabinet vided with a refrigerated compartment having an open side. a door mounted onthe cabinet vand arranged in the open side of said compartment for sliding movement to and from open and closed Astructure pro? positions, ,gasketmeans between said door and adjacent ,portions of the cabinet structure for sealing said compartment, mechanism operable to move the gasket means out of sealing position prior to movement of the door toward open position. and means actuated by movement of the door to ,closedv position for moving the gasket means into sealing pOsltion.

2. In a refrigerator, .a cabinet structure proan open'side, a door mounted on the cabinet and arranged in the open side lof said compartment for sliding movement to and from open and closed v positions, gasket lmeans between said door and adiacent portions of the cabinet structure movable into position for sealing said compartment, mechanism for retracting the gasket from the said sealing position prior to movement of the doory from closed position, means for retaining the gasket in the retracted position while the door is open, and means for rendering the retaining means inoperative when the door is v closed.

3. In a refrigerator, a cabinet structure providedv with a refrigerated compartment having an open side, a door mounted on the cabinet and arranged in the open side of said compartment for sliding movement to and from open and closed positions, retractable gasket means carried said gasket means from sealing engagement with said cabinet portions priorto movement of the door toward open position.

6. In a refrigerator, a cabinet structure provided with a refrigerated compartment having an open side, a door mounted on the cabinetand arranged in the open side of said compartment for sliding movement to and from open and closed positions, retractable gasket means carried byvided with a refrigerated compartment having l0.

said door and disposed for engagement with portions of the cabinet structure for sealing said compartment, and mechanism connected with said gasket means operable to urge and maintain the same in sealing engagement with said cab'inet portions when the doorl is moved into closed position and to retract said gasket means from sealing engagement with said cabinet portions prior to movement of the door toward open position, said mechanism including a toggle assembly connected with the gasket means, means acting on said toggle assembly to hold the same in extended position for forcing the gasket means into the said sealing position, means acting upon said toggle assembly to move the same to retracted posi-` ed forv engagement with the toggle assembly tp' releasably lock the same in its retracted position.

7. In a refrigerator, a cabinet structure provided with a refrigerated compartment having vided with a refrigerated compartment having an portions when the door is moved into closed position and actuatable through the medium of said handle to retract said gasket means from sealing engagementwith said cabinet portions prior to sliding of the door toward open position, and means operative independently of thehandle for retaining the gasket means in the retracted position when the door is open.

5. In a refrigerator, a cabinet vstructure provided with a refrigerated compartment having an openfside, a door mounted on the cabinet and arranged in-'the open side of said compartment positions, retractable gasket means carried by said door and disposed for engagement with portions of the cabinet structure for sealing said compartment, mechanism connected with said gasket means operable in response to movement of the door into closed position to urge and maintain the gasket means in sealing engagement with said cabinet portions, and means for manually actuating said mechanism to retract for sliding movement to and from open and closed 65' an open side, a door mounted on the cabinet and arranged in the open side of said compartment for sliding movement to and from open and closed positions, retractable gasket means carried by said door and disposed for engagement with portions of the cabinet structure for sealing said compartment. and mechanism connected with said gasket means operable to urge and maintain the same in sealing engagement withsaid cabinet portions when thedoor is moved into closed position and to retract said gasket means from sealing engagement with said cabinet por.

tions prior to movement of the door toward open position, said mechanism including a toggle assembly connected with the gasket means, means acting on said toggle assembly to hold the same in extended position for forcing the gasket means into its sealingv position, means acting upon said toggle assembly to'move the same to retracted position against the action of said last mentioned means to thereby withdraw the gasket means 4 from its seaiing position thereby lfreeing the door for sliding movement. locking means mounted for engagement with the toggle assembly to lock the same in retracted position, and means disposed `to disengage said locking means from the toggle assembly when the ldoor moves to the fully closed position.

GEORGE E. CURTISS, JR. REFERENCES crrED a The following referencesare of record inth ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

